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How Trolls Ruin Your Ability to Reason

Next time you want to call someone on the Internet an idiot or child, remember that you’re strengthening their opinion. Chris Mooney writes at Mother Jones:

In a recent study, a team of researchers from the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication and several other institutions employed a survey of 1,183 Americans to get at the negative consequences of vituperative online comments for the public understanding of science. Participants were asked to read a blog post containing a balanced discussion of the risks and benefits of nanotechnology (which is already all around us and supports a $91 billion US industry). The text of the post was the same for all participants, but the tone of the comments varied. Sometimes, they were “civil”—e.g., no name calling or flaming. But sometimes they were more like this: “If you don’t see the benefits of using nanotechnology in these products, you’re an idiot.”

The researchers were trying to find out what effect exposure to such rudeness had on public perceptions of nanotech risks. They found that it wasn’t a good one. Rather, it polarized the audience: Those who already thought nanorisks were low tended to become more sure of themselves when exposed to name-calling, while those who thought nanorisks are high were more likely to move in their own favored direction. In other words, it appeared that pushing people’s emotional buttons, through derogatory comments, made them double down on their preexisting beliefs.

In the context of the psychological theory of motivated reasoning, this makes a great deal of sense. Based on pretty indisputable observations about how the brain works, the theory notes that people feel first, and think second. The emotions come faster than the “rational” thoughts—and also shape the retrieval of those thoughts from memory. Therefore, if reading insults activates one’s emotions, the “thinking” process may be more likely to be defensive in nature, and focused on preserving one’s identity and preexisting beliefs.

there’s also that purple 2ish frame gif dude that i can’t find who’s been in meme channels … durn …

echar

Seizure

Simon Valentine

before Psych 101 class i used to sit in the bench across the doors in the hallway and you know people walk in the middle and not by the walls right? so the carpet gets mucked in the middle? it was darker and trodden but i could stare at it and abstract my peripheral vision or whatever and make it all look the same ‘clean’ pattern i can also hold all these still but they are then out of focus. haven’t practiced keeping them both in focus and not moving. focus probably has to do with the illusion. try each eye on its own!

echar

You just thwarted the illuminati and saved the planet. Will you now go to Disney World?

Calypso_1

Can you mentally control stroboscopic temporal aliasing while staring at a ceiling fan?

Andrew

I can, but only if the fan is off.

Calypso_1

Wow, you have some very interesting trans-saccadic processing abilities.

Simon Valentine

i’ve messed with it a little bit, i got pretty good at “spin left” “spin right” or “flip flop” with the infamous spinning lady silhouette, for awhile. so having played strategy games and having that nodule of control i don’t consider it so much to the control side of things in fan cases. fun stuff though. oh. something about natural neural bypass modules that compensate for latency and other artifactual effects? if necessary, cuz really, if it’s all aether and math, crumpled around nothing, it could be A LOT simpler than neural network neurons or chemistry.

this reminds me of the curious “speed up effect” or “sudden ultra perfect graphic ‘syndrome’ (fun)”. some motion pictures that seem to arbitrary ‘run very fast’, but it feels strange. and sometimes video game graphics seem to drastically ‘be perfect’ or ‘be ugly as a 2 sided polygon’. and i’m not talking on drugs here, i’ve gone without any since this caffeine, heh, so, 4 months or whatnot. marijuana and time lapse effects wereare of huge interest to me.

Andrew

That’s possibly the best comment ever posted on Disinfo.

Anarchy Pony

HA! Troll Hunter was awesome.

echar

I’ve yet to watch it, but my Scandinavian friend said I must. I found a English dubbed version. I may want to get the original with subs.

I have heard good things about Rare Export as well.

Anarchy Pony

If you’ve got the netflix, I do believe they’re both up on the instant stream.

Anarchy Pony

Holy shit, where’d all those downvotes come from? It must have been a troll raid or something.

echar

It happened around the witching hour.

David Duke-Astin

why the downvotes? seems very reasonable to me. Being confronted with rudeness (as designed) indeed causes things to happen in the brain.

echar

Someone has an understanding of the number 23.

David Duke-Astin

not me. that voodoo stuff don’t do nothin’ for me

echar

How adorable.

echar

Clearly you are unaware of Pope Bob, or you are trollin’.

David Duke-Astin

or slackin’

Matt Staggs

Nice one!

Haystack

So instead of arguing with your opponents, you should troll your allies, thereby strengthening their positions.

Despite what the article says I kept my cool and stayed out of the mud. But the name, the fact that he posted a comment to this article when no one else was anymore, and the fact that I could not get through to this guy, well it seems like maybe this research is still ongoing.

Anyway, check it out and let me know what you think. You’ll definitely get a hoot out of it.

http://hormeticminds.blogspot.com/ Chaorder Gradient

To be fair while he was a dull brute, you were loaded with snide snipey condescension. Trying to mix the two is like mixing oil and water.

I’m sure he saw your tactics in a very similar manner as you saw his.

Ittabena

Well, it’s like my ex in Memphis used to say. Rather be a smart ass than a dumb ass.

Actually I think I exhibited remarkable self control. Besides, you can take the boy out of the D.J. booth, but you can’t take the D.J. booth out of the boy.

Plus, bear in mind that some of his best/worst was cut, but not by Mr. Staggs. He thinks it was Diqus that did the chopping.

http://hormeticminds.blogspot.com/ Chaorder Gradient

haha yeah being a smart ass* is definitely more fun.

echar

I’d say they had a bone to pick with whomever.

Calypso_1

Damn it, you’ve ruined the secret

eyebeam

I suspect that many of the worst trolls may in fact be working for the other side, to make their opponents look bad.

I’d forgotten the Dweller was mentioned toward the end of the second season. Was our man from Missoula referencing HPL and HPB?

Calypso_1

Hobgoblins, giving rise to patterns, vulnerability to attack, wounds – each to the other.
Knights will skirmish
Lanes of Power & Influence will open to
Bishops and Rooks
Pawns will naturally be forfeit.
Prepare to sacrifice the Queen.
The Goal, Will be attained at any cost.
The King Must Die.

Clearly a man of no small spiritual advancement attempts to contact some entity.
Keep your eyes peeled.
Sharpened stones work well in other worlds as well.
As begins the passage of utter annihilation.

hmmm. I’ve never really placed much on the idea that there is a significant Lovecraft influence on his work. The nihilism just isn’t there for me.
Lynch & Lovecraft are both so much about mood and I get a very different one from each.

Most of the Dweller concepts I’ve read came from Steiner – so I guess that would be more Theosophical, but I don’t think you can lay the concept solely at the feet of HPB.
The great thing about Lynch (and I’ve always assumed he wanted it this way) is how you can graft on your own interpretations. If there had been a 3rd TP season there was supposed to be much more on the Dweller/Doppelganger.
I never saw the Lodge as pure Good/Evil.
More of a Chapel Perilous.
BOB is EVIL but he is out of the Black Lodge’s control. The idea that Mike was once part of the Black Lodge (or still is) but is in the service of the White Lodge shows how the pieces can change position. (The arm a pawn sacrificed? There are so many aspects of multiple personalities in this work. The Dwarf [so very Rumpelstiltskin – rattle ghost – indian war cry, wrinkled foreskin, circumcision, lost arm – all the elements of incest w/Leland) attendant to ascended Laura, pawn -> queen.)
The Giant as well is supposed to be Black Lodge but is obviously not portrayed as evil.
So you get into Steiner’s ideas of the Sons of Fire, which is connected to pretty standard Gnostic fare – bestowal of gifts onto humanity. In this case actually ‘riding/inhabiting’ primitive man’s bodies in order to prepare him for higher consciousness etc. “Fire Walk with Me”
Given the access to the Lodge through planetary alignment I always took the ‘many rooms’ of the Lodge to be an astrological reference.

That Cooper was not destroyed by his confrontation with the Dweller but is instead held within the Lodge I always felt that He was ‘recruited’ into the Lodge as part of some cosmic balancing act.

The Well Dressed Man

Nice work Calypso! I’m usually kind of fatigued by the time I get to the last few episodes, and so much narrative was truncated/compressed by the abrupt ending.

True story: once I was walking up a very dim, twisty staircase in an Italian restaurant, with red carpeting, red wallpaper and neoclassical statues in alcoves. Around a corner, I encountered the dwarf on his way downstairs. He was either actor Michael Anderson, or someone else with the same Osteogenesis Imperfecta symptoms. I seriously thought I was hallucinating, and stopped and stared like an ass.

Calypso_1

Heh, probably was Anderson. I’ll bet he hangs around just for the Lulz.

I have to admit I actually have notes on TP…so it wasn’t too hard to grab some dialog.
On a slight sequitur – Anderson, Americana mythoscapes, et al: Did you enjoy Carnivàl? WTF is it that we are continuously denied the full epic sweep of American weirdness?!

The Well Dressed Man

He appeared to be dancing down the stairs due to asymmetrical limbs. I even thought I heard the clarinets and finger snaps.

Didn’t see Carnival. I’m years and years behind in video media. Worth checking out?

Calypso_1

Yes check it out, at the very least for Anderson in a lead role. But it is incredible in its own right. If you like Lynch you will appreciate.

You know, many of the people I interpret for have only one word in their own language, (Spanish) for the appendage that starts at the shoulder and ends at the fingertips. That word is “hand/mano.” I swear to you, they will point to their elbow, shoulder, forearm or bicep and say “hand/mano.” Same with the leg, to many of them, it is all “foot/pie.” My jaw hit the floor the first time I encountered this. I am used to it now. It is something I encounter pretty regularly, at least once a week.
My sister did not believe me until she encountered the very same thing in her practice. She refers to them as “people with few body parts.”
Not PC, I know, but still true.

Simon Valentine

the feeling of wholesome is pervasive
modulation i encounter with automobiles
to many people, intricacies it seems are not well for their function
i encounter many reactions to it but also have many variables that are part of myself that affect the moments
some people are offendedtwerkedfurledangered by ‘introduction of intricate data’ (submodulation) while others are intriguedswoonfascinatedinterested or even left baffled or confused like something had gave them a concussion. i try to keep my notions with it because it tends to a cross environment currently and i’m trying to help change that. thank you for sharing

Juan

I had to learn to deal with what was and not be overtly nonplussed. Hiding my reactions to things is not one of my strong suits. Hopefully, I’ve gotten better at it over the years.

Calypso_1

I came across this little challenge teaching CQC to indigs.

Juan

CQC?

Calypso_1

Close Quarter Combatives

Juan

As in hand to hand combat, or dealing with agro mental patients?

Calypso_1

The former which has on occasions been a good skill set for the latter. Different ‘plan of care’ but body intelligence adapts to those parameters.

Juan

Indeed:)

Matt Staggs

One of my buddies teaches techniques to manage aggressive behavior to psychiatric workers. He’s recently started training in Sambo and Jiu-Jitsu on the side.

Calypso_1

Is he working in one of those ‘approved’ methods the insurance companies & lawyers like?

Teach 3 ‘idiot proof’ holds & call a code for show of force : )

Edit PS:
Sambo is awesome

The Well Dressed Man

era como si por un brazo oculto…

Juan

Yes, “arm” is hidden from them.

The Well Dressed Man

as if by some occult hand

Juan

Lol:)

BuzzCoastin

Croatian only has one word for all insects

we are limited by our language
most can only think about and describe their world with words
(word = world)
without enough words
our imagination and intellect are stifled
our options are limited

In the beginning was The Word
and The Word was made flesh.

Juan

Spanish obviously has words for shoulder, elbow, forearm, and wrist, these people just do not know them.

BuzzCoastin

Entiendo gracias
pero
that’s my point

what is the next form of government, if any
beyond republican democracy to be called?
what is the word that describes self-sufficiency?
it’s autarky
who knew that?

alack
wee lack for a lack of words
the fuel of imagination

You must borrow me Gargantua’s mouth first: ’tis a
word too great for any mouth of this age’s size. To
say ay and no to these particulars is more than to
answer in a catechism.

Juan

Rabelais is rambling Gargauntuan blasphemies at passersby, all the while Bakhtin beckons, to the Carnival, to the Carnival . . .

if you take internet discuss boards seriously
you might need a troll or two to help you snap out of it

David Duke-Astin

understanding of science is certainly damaged by some of the commenters around here. the capacity to fail basic science is astounding. did people not go to high school?

Simon Valentine

in soviet russia, high school…
is too german

pi = 4 and evidence is (a) fallacy of extension
..which is (a) fallacy of extension for a nondistinct, undisclosed parameter
they said “science”
i said “fallacy of practicality”
then they wrote “i am an alchemist” 1000 times on the chalkboard until we were all happy and not offended and actually talking with each other about useful stuff and spies

David Duke-Astin

whatever that means

Anarchy Pony

Amusing that some one calling themselves instafaggot would wear a cloak of superiority. Obvious troll is obvious.

Andrew

You mean “Ironic Troll is ironic.”

David Duke-Astin

personal attacks are very trolly

Matt Staggs

It’s a hard call to make regarding that name. Is it a reappropriation of a hurtful term by a gay guy? At what point do you draw the line? *Instafaggot* has contributed his or her share of insightful comments, and I think is a net gain to the community, but the name is definitely problematic.

Anarchy Pony

Well that was the first time I ever saw the name before, so I jumped to conclusions. I’m sorry, teacher.

Matt Staggs

Don’t get touchy, My Good Pony. I’m just sharing my thought process and agreeing with your indirect observation that the name is definitely problematic and maybe a bit trollish.

kowalityjesus

“The emotions come faster than the “rational” thoughts”

Yeah, if this site were a matter of instant wit, I would have been shown a fool of many many times over. Fortunately, I can take full advantage of my well-developed espirit de l’escalier and make thoroughly composed responses well in succession to my flustered and juvenile emotional state. God hath endowed me with the faculties to appear unusually intelligent on the internet, yay for not living in a different era.

Tuna Ghost

no YOU’RE drunk, asshole!

Deteis

Go plagiarize another article.

Noah_Nine

I am a member of several private facebook groups that encourage trolling… the idea is to be as rude and nasty (and witty) as possible… i find it to be very therapeutic… I can get the trollish urges out of my system which makes it easier be civil with the square population.

howiebledsoe

You are all idiots. OK, off to chuch….

Alex Close

iran goh mikhore dayyuse kirkhor

jk

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=513108163 Nathan Bouchard

Bummer that the link to the .pdf file is 404.

http://www.facebook.com/Jeffro.80s Jeffrey Lee Anderson

I got this when I clicked the link to the study.
404 | Page Not Found!

Calypso_1

So you actually have a page devoted to Matt Staggs stalking you…..

The stalking behavior is painfully obvious & you project it on to your victims.

You Need Help. You are on a crash course with a bitter outcome of your own creation.

I will reply to you no further on this board, or any other form of communication. Let this be an actual & final declaration that any further contact or use of previous communications in published format to declare self-persecution will be viewed as harassment on your part.

Jonas Planck

Ah, they’ve discovered my secret. Time to change tactics again… Wait a second… What’s with all these downvotes on seemingly innocuous comments below? Is this some strange unfamiliar ritual, or do they represent all the trolls who tried to post, but had their comments scrubbed? Hmmm… there appears to be 23 of them.

Eric Smith

Calling people names like deniers is classic intel tactics. It
was the oil companies who came with the ‘denier’ insult.

Opposing Views on Global Warming: The Corporate Climate Coup

by Prof. David F. Noble – York University, Toronto, Canada

The second -“positive”- campaign, which emerged a decade
later, in the wake of Kyoto and at the height of the
anti-globalization movement, sought to get out ahead of the
environmental issue by affirming it only to hijack it and turn it
to corporate advantage. Modelled on a century of corporate
liberal cooptation of popular reform movements and regulatory
regimes, it aimed to appropriate the issue in order to moderate
its political implications, thereby rendering it compatible with
corporate economic, geopolitical, and ideological interests. The
corporate climate campaign thus emphasized the primacy of “market-based”
solutions while insisting upon uniformity and predictability in
mandated rules and regulations.

At the same time it hyped the global climate issue into an
obsession, a totalistic preoccupation with which to divert
attention from the radical challenges of the global-justice
movement. In the wake of this campaign, any and all opponents of
the “deniers” have been identified – and, most importantly,
have wittingly or unwittingly identified themselves – with the
corporate climate crusaders.

Presqu Ile

‘Nanotechnology’ isn’t ‘science’ it’s profitable technology. Real science is rigourous and would have necessitated studying them extensively before they became a 91billion$ industry that will potentially pollute everything known irretrievably. It never ceases to amaze me how ‘hi-tech crapitalism’ is being mistaken for ‘science’.

NicolasBourbaki

“Next time you want to call someone on the Internet an idiot or child, remember that you’re strengthening their opinion.”

Actually, that is not what the study found as Mother Jones reported it. From what the article said, the study showed that non participating readers of the comments “doubled down” on their beliefs, not the people who engaged in writing the comments (engage din the online debate).

Kathryn Baker

I love calling an idiot an idiot….don’t care about this theory. I like calling a spade a spade as the old saying goes.

yes, there’s some namecalling, but the real trolling is Invincible Ignorance. Some people hold so tightly to their dreams, their drug experiences, and their superstitions that they seem to have lost the capacity to reason. And yet they want logic and reason to support their crazy beliefs.

Ittabena

Oh my God, it’s the attack of the band of 23. (23 down votes to each of you in this whole string?) Seems a little odd, doesn’t it? They seem to resume their attack below.

Andrew

You are wrong. Not only are you improperly redefining the term “trolling,” but there is no evidence that reading other people’s silly beliefs and weak logic damages one’s ability to reason as much as their name calling and ad hominem does.

Simon Valentine

perhaps “are using a lossy algorithm” as “the capacity to agree with someone who is demanding both that someone else agree with them and that they (the latter someone) currently …” what? other than completely lack a state of mind … and thus are using a lossy algorithm …

*edit*
so equally lossy, equally stupid, equally invincibly ignorant. the unstoppable force meets two immoveable objects… and someone gets the bright idea that “there is a state that isn’t stupid” is equivalent to “there is no such thing as stupidity” etc.

kowalityjesus

occult numerologist trolls…they’re everywhere these days.

Andrew

Looks like Mr. Staggs is going to have to contact someone’s ISP.

Juan

I know, I just noticed that. Some people got 24. I wonder if that is significant, like you’ve been especially naughty or something?

BuzzCoastin

LOL
I had no idea it was that good

obsessive down votes is one of the marks of an OCD troll
I’ve had the pleasure of entertaining many

Simon Valentine

similar to the spinning lady
the animated gif does not necessarily ‘tend the same illusion’
one can make the green continue ‘the same direction’ or even i just saw it ‘switch’ and go the other way at a time it wasn’t labeled to do so.

also reminds me
this binaural beat
i always wanted to do the math for a sound system that used miniscule speaks in synchronized order to produce volumetric sound effects at a distance. similar to this bin beat but not done by the mind as much as by the math of the sound waves from the speakers interacting mid-air to causes resonance in the atmosphere which yields a whole nother level of dropping the bass

Simon Valentine

pawns to knights on A9!
Hi to starboard!
combinanumetorics engage!

Ittabena

I’m scared. Save me jesus. *Smirk

The Well Dressed Man

I suppose it’s about time I see the number 23 absolutely everywhere. It’s been a while.

David Duke-Astin

fair enough, but I think you see my point

Ittabena

Uh oh, now it looks like they are after us. I thought our comments were both pretty innocuous. We’ll see if it’s them after I get off work today.

Might just be someone who got turned down by his wife, or her husband (PC is a pain in the ass, I’ll be glad when this fad passes.), this morning.

Matt Staggs

We’ve got a very bitter little troll who compulsively registers under spoofed IPs to come and cause trouble. I can’t possibly imagine having that kind of time to waste. If you think about it, I bet you can guess that person’s latest – most recently banished – incarnation.

Andrew

It could be someone turned down by his husband, or her wife.

Matt Staggs

There’s no they. It’s just one dude. Everyone knows who he is.

Ittabena

See what I mean? I’m probably gonna get 3000 internet demerits for my omission. Oh dear…

Andrew

I’ve got more than that. Don’t worry about it.

The Well Dressed Man

Trololo XXIII could only happen on disinfo.

Calypso_1

Talk about a rabbit hole for your sense of reason.
Very fond of rumpots, crackpots, and how are you, Mr. Wilson

Andrew

That’s a lot of effort just to give people multiple downvotes. Sounds like the work of someone with a lot of time on their hands and not much imagination.

Very lo-tech, mid-century musique concrete, but a fascinating use of speakers arrayed in three dimensions in a tuned room.

echar

I have seen some videos that show water going in reverse. It’s fun stuff. I remember using a strobe for making labels. It was for inspecting the quality of the die-cut.

Simon Valentine

oh nice. i’m about to veer a non sequiter but dice, random, and tolerance. the antiquated Vegas vs. Mathematician. somehow the veer wasn’t not known to Dr. Ryan. not sure what that process you mention is, didn’t get any hits on google or youtube.

Simon Valentine

i imagine i should start with ultrasound, faster-than-sound (atomic level), cancer-targeting type research to see some ideas. 3d printing techniques. put pfft, that’d all just to be to find out what math i could Not do just inside my own head.

trig and calc. algebra and combinatorics. placebo marketing though *sharp inhale and pull head back to the side* to get people’s minds in gear as well. anti people compensation.

could it be more difficult than matrix multiplication, factoring, and NP?

Andrew

It was a syntactically fair assumption. Also note I wrote “someone” rather than “you.” But thanks for dimming my wit with trollworthy ad hominem anyway, asshole.

Ittabena

Oh, oh! I know that face but the title escapes me. Okay, what is it from?

Calypso_1

If i ran the country that’s what i would show every year instead of Wonderful Life.

Andrew

The Twilight Zone

Andrew

Calypso_1

U R 1 BAMF

Ittabena

That’s right. Thanks

Ittabena

Agreed. We’d be better for it too.

echar

My grandmother’s neighbor’s dog has three legs, and it walks like an Egyptian. One must be Nuits to trust that, crocodile dung was once used as contraceptive to this argument. Or was it a greetings and commentations?

I had a similar idea regarding mixing two different systems playing two different sets that mixed in with each other and there’d be a point on the field where you could hear the mix perfectly of both together. To do your idea you’d have two tracks with no phase cancellation apart from a specific band, and then finding the point where you can perceive the cancellation. I hadn’t put too much thought into it yet because I didn’t see myself being able to experiment with two soundsystems and a huge area but I’ve been considering trippy stuff like that for parties.

I’m all for a bit of silly (sometimes serious) irreverence but that guy is out of line. Hope he didn’t get to you Matt.

The Well Dressed Man

Looks like I missed the show today….

Calypso_1

Now you’ve gone & made him mad.

Calypso_1

jeeezus disqus weirded out.

Andrew

He was already mad.

https://www.facebook.com/cuthbert.bodkins Threedinium

Yeah I studied Symphony of Three Orchestras during my A-levels which blew my mind. It’s on my list of things to see performed live before I die.

Matt Staggs

Nah, I’ve got 99 problems but a troll ain’t one…

Calypso_1

You have to ask yourself why the rejected/rejector keeps coming back. We all are that in so many ways. This is a community of oddities that doesn’t fit & rejects may aspects of consensus reality. Many of us have struggled through tremendous obstacles to get where we are. Yet there is community. Even in the sharpest of divides there are cycles of reconciliation and exchange. In that sense there is much for someone of shared interest to learn. Why would you want to be around people you declare to despise so much? What do they have that you need to be a part of?
Boundaries are tough to learn, doubly so when you have a mind/spirit that so readily sees through all the false walls our society places around us.

Matt Staggs

I have to admit that I’m amused. The RAW reference is a good one.

https://www.facebook.com/cuthbert.bodkins Threedinium

Had to really think about that. To be honest, when I ask myself that question a whole mass of experience floats up. It’s a tangled web, lots of things easily missed, hard to define. Not like I haven’t done exactly the same kind of stuff before, and received many a mighty ass beating for it. Eventually I guess I learned the difference between acting from er… lets call it true will and the acts I did in a self hating or regretful manner.

The whole issue of rejection and community – you’re probably in a better position to comment, I’ve only just begun to get uncomfortably close to my own subconscious drives for the purposes of examining them. And I have a habit of ignoring or suppressing them so they tend to all come out at once accompanied by a wonderful bouquet of surprise and embarrassment.